338 FOREST PRODUCTS 



From statistics ^ gathered by the U. S. Forest Service, the leading 

 states in the consumption of wood fuel on our farms are Alabama, 

 Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, North Carolina, Arkansas 

 and Texas in order. These eight states consume about 50 per cent of the 

 total amount used on our farms in this country. 



The quantity of fuel wood used in any one locality depends very largely 

 upon the following factors" 



1. Climate. It is natural that more fuel wood will be used in 

 colder chmates than in the southerly ones unless near coal or 

 oil fields. 



2. Cost of other fuel. The use of wood is determined very 

 largely in any given region by the cost of the available coal, 

 oil and gas. 



3. Transportation facilities. Very often wood is available in 

 abundant quantities but transportation facilities are lacking. 



Several years ago considerable fuel wood was reduced in form to 

 charcoal in isolated regions of long hauls to save transportation charges. 

 The general use of charcoal for fuel purposes, however, has been reduced 

 to a considerable extent and the old method of making charcoal has 

 nearly gone out of existence, due to the introduction of modern methods 

 of both hardwood and softwood distillation. 



There are great possibilities for closer utilization of our raw wood 

 supplies in the development of wood for fuel. The value of fuel wood in 

 many of our smaller towns and cities has risen so rapidly that it is now 

 competing successfully with coal or other materials for fuel purposes, and 

 although it will be a long time before fuel wood can be utilized in an 

 intensive way as in the European nations, we shall undoubtedly save, 

 in the future, enormous quantities of material now wasted in the woods 

 in logging operations and poor and defective timber now left to decay. 



The following table 1 shows the amount and value of wood fuel used 

 on the farms of this country during 191 7: 



1 From " The Use of Wood for Fuel," U. S. Dept. of Agr., Bull. 753, igig. 



